1.6m people in Ireland engaged in construction and finance sectors
Figures released by the CSO today revealed that the construction sector accounts for one-fifth of all enterprises in Ireland, making Ireland's construction industry the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU.
Meanwhile, the financial sector was deemed the fastest growing industry in the country with 31%.
The services sector accounted for over half (50.9%) of all 270,344 active enterprises in the country, engaging 45.5% of people. Engagement with the service sector is higher here than the EU average (49%) but lower than the UK (60%).
The number of people engaged in the construction sector has had the biggest percentage rise since 2014, with 44.7%.
Despite nearly all Irish enterprises (99.8%) being small and medium sized, 32.5% of people were employed by large enterprises (employing more than 250 people).
The number of micro-enterprises (employing less than 10 people) grew by 12.8% from 2014 to 2018. Overall, however, the number of enterprises launched in 2018 was down 35% from the pervious year.